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Aristotle Onassis Biography |
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Aristotelis (also Ari) Sokratis Onassis (in Greek language, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης) (January 15 or January 20, 1906 – March 15, 1975) was the most famous Greek people shipping magnate of the 20th century.
Onassis was born in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now Izmir, Turkey) to a middle-class Greek family. At the time of his birth, Smyrna had a very significant and prosperous Greek population. After being briefly occupied by Greece (1919 – 1922) in the aftermath of the allied victory in World War I, the city was re-captured by Turkey; the Onassis family holdings were lost, causing them to move to Greece as refugees. In 1923, Aristotle Onassis left his country of birth to Argentina, where, after difficult beginnings, he revived the family's tobacco business http://www.greece.org/poseidon/work/modern-times/onassis.html. In 1925 he received Argentinian and Greek citizenships. After engaging in many different entrepreneurial activities with determination and passion for success, he finally managed to become a world-class businessman, owning commercial ships, tankers and whalers. In 1954, the FBI investigated Onassis for fraud against the Federal Government of the United States. He was charged with violating the citizenship provision of the shipping laws which require that all ships displaying the US flag be owned by US citizens. Onassis entered a guilty plea and paid $7 million. He founded Olympic Airways (today Olympic Airlines), the Greek national carrier, in 1957. Onassis married Athina Livanos, daughter of shipping magnate Stavros Livanos, on December 28, 1946; their son, Alexander Onassis (April 30, 1948 – January 23, 1973), and daughter Christina Onassis (December 11, 1950 – November 19, 1988), were both born in New York City. After their divorce, Athina married her late sister's widower (and Onassis's arch shipping rival) Stavros Niarchos. Despite the fact they were both married, Onassis and opera diva Maria Callas embarked on a notorious affair. According to Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis by Nicholas Gage, Callas gave birth to their child, a boy, who died hours later on March 30, 1960. Onassis ended his relationship with Callas to marry Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, on October 20, 1968. Kennedy insisted on marriage rather than an affair so as to not scandalize her children. Callas was really the love of his life, evidenced by the short lived happiness he experienced with Kennedy, trying to end the marriage early but being unable to without an egregious offense, according to Greek law at the time; and the many times he tried to see Callas while married to Kennedy. He flew to Paris to see Callas after the death of his son Alexander in an airplane crash. Callas responded, "If only our son had lived." Onassis never recovered from the death of his son. Onassis died at age 69, on March 15, 1975 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, of bronchial pneumonia, a complication of the myasthenia gravis that he had been suffering from during the last years of his life. Christina inherited his fortune pursuant to his will. However, Jackie Kennedy disclaimed her token devise and took a one-third forced share of the estate. Christina's remaining two-third share has since passed to her only child, Athina Roussel. See also 
Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org/ |
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